Magical Doorways
by crazydragons567
Summary: When Chris went back in time, most of the reason was to save the future, but some of him was running away from it. So what if it came haunting after him?
1. Prologue

Disclaimer- I don't own Charmed, don't we all wish that we do?

Most fanfiction **is** AU. Duh, it **is **fanfiction.

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Magical Doorways

_"Of magic doors, there is this: You do not see them, even as you are passing through."_

_ - unknown  
_

Prologue

The path of life makes its way slowly through the woods, and it crosses with many others along its way. And at each branch, each fork is a choice. And at each choice, there is an odd sense of reality. There is a feeling that everything that you know, that you understand, is about to change. These forks in the road don't come often; they are not the choice of what to eat for breakfast, they are the life altering ones (occasionally there is one that is the choice of what you eat for breakfast, but that's really not the point). Perhaps it is this path that you walk that seems to make destiny so forbidding, so uncontrollable and unavoidable, for it is already paved out for you. But there is always a loophole, a flaw in the gran design. And when one finds this flaw, they never know it, but seize it and walk through a doorway.

And all doorways are magical.

So when Chris Perry Halliwell stepped through the time portal to the past, he found the flaw, except he was never looking for it.

And when **she **was sent back to help, there was no doubt.

Destiny was out of control.

And usually, that leads to chaos.

_""There is no chance, no destiny, no fate, that can circumvent or hinder or control the firm resolve of a determined soul."_

_~Ella Wheeler Wilcox _

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Document won't let me indent. Sorry.

My first fic, so please don't kill me. First person to review gets a prize. Everyone else gets a cyber doorway. Continue or not?

~crazydragon567


	2. Meetings

Disclaimer- I don't own Charmed, don't we all wish that we do?

Note: This chapter and the next two chapters are kinda slow paced and introductory, so bear with me. Lines from "Oh My Goddess Part 1" do not belong to me.

Magical Doorways

_"Of magic doors, there is this: You do not see them, even as you are passing through."_

_- unknown_

Chapter 1: Meetings (At least two and a half of them)

A flurry of orbs materialized next to Phoebe as she made to get up from where she had landed after hitting the table. Looking up, she saw a young man with brown hair that looked like they had been gelled together to stick up. He was wearing a pair of sunglasses and seemed to know exactly what to do. He looked quickly at the Titan and back at Phoebe and yelled, "Don't look into her eyes!" whilst throwing potions.

Phoebe, as surprised by the new arrival, complied and turned away. The Titan seemed pretty unaffected by the sudden onslaught of potions (courtesy of the young man) and looked like she was about to do her vanishing act when a rather unexpected shock wave rocked the attic and caused the Titan to burst into flames turned around to see the young man take off his sunglasses and was taken aback at how young he was.

"Are you alright?" he asked as he helped her up.

"Better than Paige," she replied, gaping at the stone version of Paige.

"At least she's not dead," the strangers said in a very annoying matter-of -fact voice that made Phoebe want to punch him in the nose.

"Are you sure?" asked Phoebe, suspicion of this stranger creeping into the back of her head. Before he could answer, Phoebe came up with another question, a more pressing one. Without thinking, she asked,"Who are you?"

Later on she would remember seeing him hesitate, and maybe that was why she had so readily distrusted him when thins got hard, but at the moment, she only heard,"Chris. Chris Perry. I'm from the future."

Phoebe nodded for a couple of seconds, absorbing everything in, and then returned to her original question,"What happened to Paige?"

Chris would have answered, but at that moment, Piper burst in and upon seeing stone Paige, she said, "Oh my god, tell me that's just a really good likeness of Paige."

"Oh, it's Paige." said Phoebe

Chris chipped in and said, "Titan turned her to stone."

Apparently seeing Chris for the first time,Piper turned toward him and asked,"Who-who are you?"

Phoebe saved Chris from the need to repeat himself and said,"That's Chris. He's from the future."

"Yeah, but just like twenty years or so." said Chris, acting like time travel wasn't a very big deal at all.

Piper nodded disbelievingly and turned to Phoebe as if Chris wasn't there," Uh-huh. Friend or foe?"

Phoebe joined Piper and shrugged "Not so sure yet."

Chris replied in a disbelieving voice, "What do you mean? I saved Paige, didn't I?"

Phoebe snorted and retorted, "Oh, you call that saving, do you?"

"Hey, I'm the one that put my life on the line here. I didn't have to drop everything I was doing just to orb in and save her butt..."

Piper said in astonishment, "You-you orb? You're a Whitelighter?"

Chris said exasperatedly,"Look, where I come from, history shows Paige didn't get turned into stone on this day... she died. She was the third whitelighter victim. And with her death the power of three died too, allowing Titans to rule and create a world you don't wanna see, trust me. I'm hear to alter history. To help you save the future. The shock wave thing was unexpected. I'll go "up there" and ask the Elders about it. Right now, you guys want to focus on helping stone cold Paige over there." Before either of them could object in the five different ways that they were thinking, he orbed out.

Piper glared at the spot where the infuriating new whitelighter had been standing a few feet before. She did this in such a way, so it looked like she wished the whitelighter would be ripped into shreds just by giving the unfortunate area he had been standing on a quiet, but threatening stare. She hardly even knew the boy, and yet, there was something about him that made her detest him. Maybe it was the way he talked so nonchalantly and mysteriously about everything.

Phoebe just stared at the spot where the blue lights had appeared from. She was astonished that someone so cocky and belligerent could be a whitelighter. _Seriously,_ she thought, _Whitelighters are supposed to be pacifists, not know-it-all-ists.

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_

Chris could hardly contain his emotions. He had never known his Aunt Paige, and all he had ever known about her came from the stories that Phoebe and Piper had told him. So seeing her had been like seeing a legend come true. Aunt Phoebe was another matter. She had been his favorite aunt (and being the only alive one had nothing to do with it, although that was part of it), and when she had died, he had mourned her for months. Seeing her again had been like a dream come true, even though though the dream trusted him less than she trusted the the new lamp in the living room. _Mom. No, Piper_, he told himself. Just being in the attic, smelling the her scent had been heart wrenching. And physically seeing her, never mind her reaction, had reminded him of how much he missed her. But as he materialized, he managed to get everything under control and put on the emotionless mask that he was so used to using.

The first thought that came to his mind when he set foot on the clouds beneath him was _clouds, how cliche was that. Couldn't the Elders come up with something more original?_ The second thing he noticed was how absolutely quite it was. There was no bustling of robes and quiet mummers of passing whitelighters. In fact, there was almost nobody around. Upon seeing this (or rather nothing), Chris's heart began to race. He ran toward the area he knew where the meetings were held, desperately hoping that the Titans hadn't already come. Hoping that there _was _a meeting that he didn't know about.

He burst past the row of pillars to see the only building in the entire place. There was a lot of steps in front of the building, like the kind you would see in front of a courthouse. In front of the doors were two pillars, and leaning against one of the pillars was a girl, with her precariously long brown hair caught somewhere between her back and the pillar. She must have heard his footsteps because she turned around as she said, "There's a meeting going on right now, but you **could** go in and get your head blown-"

At this point, she had seen who she was talking to, and had paused in surprise. But she finished her sentence anyways.

"off."

Chris was as surprised as she was. The moment she had started talking, there had been a stab of familiarity, but he had shaken it off. The moment he had seen her light golden eyes, everything had clicked into place, and deep in his mind, he felt a bond in his mind that had laid dormant for so long open up again. And because his body seemed incapable of responding to his commands, he projected a thought down that bond (rather clumsily) _Mel?_

She must of heard it because she said, "Chris. It's been awhile."

And behind her the doors swung open....

TBC...

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I kinda feel like I'm spoiling you, but here you go.

Special Thanks to xlookz-can-be-deceivingx, the **one** out of a hundred of you that reviewed. You're awesome. This chapter is dedicated to you.

Please review, good, bad don't care.

Bye for now.

crazydragons567


	3. Coincidences

Disclaimer: I don't own Charmed, again. Once again, lines from Oh my Goddess Part 1 are not mine.

Note: I'm going to tell you now, this everyday/every few days updating thing is not going to last. So please don't kill me if the updating gets slower and slower.

Magical Doorways

Chapter 2- Coincidences 

_You don't really realize how much you miss someone until you meet them again. _

_Funny because that's what you yearn for the most._

_

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Last time...._

_Chris was as surprised as she was. The moment she had started talking, there had been a stab of familiarity, but he had shaken it off. The moment he had seen her light golden eyes, everything had clicked into place, and deep in his mind, he felt a bond in his mind that had laid dormant for so long open up again. And because his body seemed incapable of responding to his commands, he projected a thought down that bond (rather clumsily) _Mel?

_She must of heard it because she said, "Chris. It's been awhile."_

_And behind her the doors swung open....

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_

Phoebe had the very unfortunate job of explaining to Piper exactly why her sister had been turned to stone. That included the Titans **and **the unexpected arrival of the whitelighter. She was just finishing up when she noticed the first magical creature in the house. Soon she saw the rest that were filing into the house. Piper herded all the creatures (fairies, dwarves, leprechauns, you name it) into the basement taking extra care to make sure that none of the neighbors saw and asked the Elf Nanny that had walked in holding a drum stick, "What are all you people doing here?"

"Well if you hadn't noticed, the world's a mess out there. Something terrible's going on out there. Everyone senses it," said the Elf Nanny in an incredibly annoying voice.

"The Titans?" asked Phoebe.

"I guess," said Piper, "I'm calling Leo, this is way too chaotic. First the Titans, then future boy, and now this." With that, she proceeded to yell for Leo as loudly as she could. It didn't take long for Leo to orb in.

Cutting straight to the chase, Piper asked Leo," How many whitelighters are missing?"

"Why?"

"Two," said a really confused Leo, "That's why the Elders had a meeting."

"Chris was right," said Phoebe softly, clearly trying to process all the new information.

Who's Chris?" asked Leo. He was now even more confused than before, and he couldn't help but wonder, exactly what had happened when he was gone.

Phoebe was too lost in thought to answer him, so Piper did.

"Some whitelighter from the future that came to warn us about imminent doom and stuff. We don't really know because he being really cryptic, which quite frankly, pisses me off," she said with an obvious dislike of the subject at hand.

Still trying to catch up, this new information puzzled Leo even more. "Wait.... from the future? That's weird-"

"Tell me about it. And he won't even tell us what he came back to do."

"No that's not it," said Leo," This girl came from a portal "up there" and said that she was from the future. She said that the Titans were related to the whitelighter disappearances."

"Coincidence," asked Phoebe.

"We don't believe in coincidences, remember?" replied Piper, " This is what we'll do. Leo, go watch Wyatt. I'll call for future boy, and Phoebe, go unstone Paige."

"Wait, Paige is stone?" said Leo, wondering how that might relate to the Titans and the time travelers.

"Fill you in on the way up," said Piper.

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The doors behind them burst open a bunch of whitelighters poured out, trying their best to ignore the two people. Upon failing miserably, they gave up all attempts to be discreet. Openly staring at the obvious building tension, they edged away and muttered to one and another. The Elders followed the whitelighters out in their golden robes, but despite their dignity, they gaped just as much as the other "angels" did.

One of the Elders was about to say something when Chris finally found his tongue, "Déjà vu, huh?"

Mel snorted and her eyes darkened a bit as she crossed her arms and said, "Not that you would remember."

She saw him flinch at her tone and she mentally crossed herself. Being in this place again just couldn't help but bring back the feelings that had been so easily released here, even though that had yet to happen.

"Sorry, that wasn't fair." She sighed, trying **not** to remember, but memories skip across the mind at the most inconvenient times, and unfortunately for her, this was one of them.

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_2019_

_She had been waiting for hours, leaning against the stupid pillar. She didn't even know why she had bothered. Leo, being an Elder, probably already had them all on his side. Usually she felt bad for Leo, she would never want to have to pick priorities between work and family (if she ever got one), but now, she really hated his guts. He had never been around for Chris, so why did he give a rat's ass now about who he dated and what magical power rose from that?_

_There was a sound of orbing behind her, and Mel felt like practicing her unfailing sarcasm on what she expected to be a flustered whitelighter that was about to make the walk of shame into a meeting (No respectable whitelighter was late for a meeting. Thus the walk into a meeting, late, with everyone glaring at the back of your head - with a few amused looks- as you made your way to your seat (which was usually **very **far back, especially if you're new) was dubbed the "walk of shame". _

_She turned around while saying, "There's a meeting going on right now, but you **could** go in and get your head blown-"_

_She saw who she was talking to, and had paused in surprise. But she finished her sentence anyways._

_"off."_

_There was another pause, then,"Chris." And here she found herself hoping, far more than one should in their lifetime._

_But that hope was wasted, and it flickered out when he asked her,"Do I know you?"_

_And just then, the doors behind her opened, and the whitelighters and Elders came out, all of them dispersing except for the Elders. The Elders eyed the two with apparent distaste, as she closed her eyes for being so stupid, for even bothering to think that something might have changed. Leo had come out with the rest of the Elders, and this had been what he had last scen that he expected or wanted to see._

_Mel knew, she could tell him, one thought was all it took, but she didn't have the heart anymore. Suddenly, she really didn't care what the Elders were going to say, she already knew what it was going to be. So she shook her head as a response to his question, and though her thoughts were something else, what came out was,"You **did**."_

_She pulled out a potion and threw it at the ground -clouds- and vanished in the smoke.

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_

_Present Day (For the Charmed Ones)_

One if the Elders tapped her on the shoulder and said," We have decided that the "threat" (he pronounced the word in such a disbelieving way, it was all that Mel could do to prevent herself from blowing him up) of the "Titans" (he did it again, and she had to tell herself repeatedly to relax. Chris was as annoyed as she was, but more amused by her reaction) is unlikely, and we will take some precautions, but full evacuation, as you suggested, is completely out of question."

_Idiots_, thought Chris, and he projected to Mel, _Please don't blow them up._

For a moment, a flash of anger went through her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by weary tiredness and annoyance. She sighed and said, "Its your life." She hadn't turned to look at the Elder, so he hadn't been aware of the danger he had been in. He nodded and left with the rest of the Elders.

Mel walked up to Chris and held out a hand.

"Orb me out of this hellhole. This place makes me sick."

He took her hand , and they vanished in a flurry of blue lights.

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"Chris!" yelled Piper for the umpteenth time, and she was really getting mad when he orbed in with a girl who quickly broke away from him the moment they fully materialized. The moment Piper saw the girl, something ran through her head, and she couldn't stop herself from saying, "Melinda?"

TBC....

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I know I'm evil.

Little cheesy with the flashback.

Please review. It's not very encouraging when you get 1 review out of 200 visitors.

'Till next time...

~crazydragons567


	4. Trust and Other Issues

Disclaimer: Don't own

Chapter 3- Trust and Other Issues

_Ohh the irony, _Mel sent to Chris silently, _I mean I'm not even family, and she automatically thinks of family, while __**you**__, you're the one that's supposed to look like her, and doesn't even bat an eye about how familiar __**you**__ are._

She said to Piper, "It's Mel. I'm not her, and I'm not your daughter either."

Piper couldn't help but think how the aura this young woman gave off reminded her so much of the lovely girl that she had seen in the that she had traveled to earlier. What worried her more, was the if she wasn't that girl, then how did she know about her? Only Prue and Phoebe had known, and Prue was dead. Phoebe however, .... couldn't keep a secret for her life. Piper mentally filed it in the folder that was labeled "things to yell at Phoebe about".

In the silence that ensued, Chris thought to Mel, _I've missed you and your ridiculously accurate observations._

Then added, _I guess people only see what they want to see._

Clearly unable to take the awkward silence, she headed up the stairs, with Chris following behind. They had reached the landing to the first floor when Leo burst out of Wyatt's room. Leo had just put all the pieces of the puzzle together and asked, "They're after the Elders aren't they?"

It was more of a rhetorical question because he orbed out before either of them said a thing. Mel shook her head and said, "They never listen until its too late. He won't make it in time."

"You mean it's already over," amended Chris.

"The first battle at least."

They entered the attic just in time to see Phoebe fail to unstone Paige with a combination of pixie dust and leprechaun luck. The dwarf's axe had no impact on the stone. Chris looked at Mel expectantly and asked, "Well?"

She thought for a second before addressing Phoebe, "Try a potion with the other stuff. Should work."

"Future girl, huh?" said Phoebe, with an obvious dislike and suspicion of unidentified time travelers.

"Mel"

"Mel," repeated Phoebe, testing the word like one would with an unknown mushroom to see if it was poisonous, delicious, or both, "Not-"

"No." she said in rather forceful voice.

"**Not** her. **Not **Melinda," added stressing the "not" much more than necessary.

"Try a potion," she said in a more passive tone.

"Relax. Going." said Phoebe as she made her way to the door to get the ingredients from downstairs.

The moment she was gone, Chris made his way to the Book of Shadows and began flipping through it. After a solid five minutes of looking, he looked up at her and said, "Can we talk?"

"Talking." This was followed by a stretching silence and then she added, "Okay, not talking."

When her words were once more met with silence, she walked up to the cabinet and started looking for nothing in particular.

The leprechaun, who had obviously listening to everything that they were saying, said, "You two have issues."

As if remembering that they were there for the first time, Chris examined the dwarf, the leprechaun, and the fairy and said, "Later. When we don't have company.

All three of the spectators pretended to look as innocent as possible while the dwarf said, "Carry on, we're not listening."

The dwarf shrank under the weight of the glares that came from the two people in the attic. All he could think of was, _if looks could kill...._

"You would be dead. Twice." She said with a look in her eyes that made him shiver. Shaking his head at her tone, Chris hit her on the back of the head, and said in a half hearted voice, "Mel.."

She flashed a smile at him, one that made his stomach tie in knots and he only managed to say, "I'm going to check on Leo." before he made his escape.

~same thing happens in the episode "up there"~

Phoebe made her way into the attic, dragging a very reluctant Piper behind her.

Piper looked extremely worried and the first thing that came out of her mouth was, " Has anyone seen Leo?"

"He went to check on the Elders, and Chris just went to check on him."

Piper noticed that Mel was flipping through the book at a mad pace. Immediate suspicion filled her thoughts, and she asked warily, "Put that back."

Without even looking up, Mel said, "I touched it, it trusts me, so therefor, shouldn't you trust me?"

Piper walked over and snatched the book from the other woman, and snapped back, "You could have found a way to trick the book."

Mel sighed and said, "What. Would it take for you to trust me?"

"That's for us to know and you to ponder," said Piper, turning around in time to see Paige appear from her stone encasement.

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Kinda boring, but its a transition chapter

Next Chapter will be more interesting

promise

~crazydragons567


	5. Just Trying To Figure Things Out

Disclaimer- I don't own Charmed, and any of the characters used in this fanfiction. No profit.

**A/N**- I'm soooooo sorry for not updating sooner, but I had finals and last minute projects and all that for weeks. *insert other excuses here*Anyways, this chapter is kinda short, but I'll try to update soon.

Since we pretty much know what happens in Oh My Goddess, this chapter takes place after the defeat of the Titans, but before Piper actually gives up her powers. Leo is up there, Piper is causing havoc, and Phoebe and Paige have just left to get Piper. This is probably the longest chapter in the entire story, so for those of you that love that, enjoy, and for those of you who hate it, this is probably never going to happen again.

Chapter 4- Just Trying to Figure Things Out

The rain battered hard against the streets of San Fransisco. It fell from the heavens, making its suicidal plunge from the sky. And when they hit the sidewalk, they would splat, leaving traces and remnants of their existence everywhere. Chris often wondered what these droplets of water felt as they fell from the sky. Did they know that the moment that they left the safety of the clouds that they would only reach the deep dark confines of the Earth? That there destination was far worse than the beginning? Or was it simply a life cycle, where the droplets of water would make there way to Earth and learn to appreciate the heaven that they are returned to when evaporated? Sitting on a beam of the Golden Gate Bridge, he could only envy these little droplets of water. At least, when they fell, everyone would know, and something of them would remain, to be noticed and to be wondered about. Here, in the past, if he dropped of the face of Earth, no one would know, or care for that matter. Everything would go on as though nothing had happened at all.

He felt her walk up behind him, and he wondered, for half a second, if she would care if he fell of the face of Earth. He wondered, if she would put on a fake smile to reassure others, to cry on the inside, and to make sure that the world would never forget you or anything that you had ever done. Like he had when she had.... He really didn't want to finish that thought. As if being around other already dead people wasn't bad enough. He couldn't even remember how she died. Just blood, a turmoil of feelings, and lots and lots of gold lights. At least for everyone else, he definitely knew that he hadn't killed them. For her, everything was blurry or black, impossible to tell what had really happened.

"You're dead," he thought, trying to convince himself through the barricade of emotions. He realized that he had said them aloud when a ragged sigh broke through the sound of constant rain. Thinking that he had already gotten out the problem, he forged ahead, his voice hardening to keep himself from breaking down, "How come you're not now?"

And suddenly, he can hear every single movement behind him. He can feel his heart skip beats and pump twice as fast. He can feel the adrenaline pumping through his veins, even though he doesn't know why. He can tell that she wants to avoid this one topic, talk about anything else. But he needs to know, the one things he's not certain about. The one thing that has been eating at his heart the moment he had seen her. Apparently he wasn't as over her as he thought.

He turned around to find her gazing into a small fire floating in the air. It was her way of avoiding things. Which he knew was something that she didn't do often. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, trying to get her to look at him. Eye contact, as she had once argued with him, was the most important thing to interrogation. Anyone who doesn't want to say anything about that topic won't look at you. Eye contact opens up the feelings. Because **_everything_** is in the eyes. The important things.

She jerked her hand away, trying to make him let go. Having lost her concentration, the flame went out, and the darkness returned. He didn't take the hint and ended up face to face with her, their faces bodies inches away from one and another.

It was strange how that one second before they pulled away, stretched, longer than what happened after. He could feel her heartbeat speed up just like his, her breath fill in the space between them, see the way her hair created shadows across her face, and see her eyes, a dull myriad of yellows.

An image flashed across his eyes, one that he was unfamiliar to, but he somehow knew that it had already passed.

_She was leaning against him, her faced buried in his shirt. They were surrounded by crumbling rock of a ruin. Surrounding the ruins were cave walls, making the scene even stranger. Since when were there buildings in caves?_

He was puzzled by this flash, he knew the place looked distinctly familiar, but everything was just feelings and instincts. He couldn't even remember when that had happened, and he knew that premonitions weren't his thing. **And** she had always been touchy about being anywhere near him. He didn't have much time to think about it because she answered his question.

"Figured I couldn't be dead **and **alive at the same time." Somewhat. He had to resist the temptation to roll his eyes sarcastically tell her how much that cleared things up.

Unluckily for him, he thought that thought a bit too loud, and she got hint of it. She glared at him, a hell of a lot of hurt swimming into her eyes. She covered it up in seconds something only someone who hid their feelings for most of their life could do, and vanished in a bunch of smoke.

_Damn it, _he thought,_ sometimes I wish she never learned how to make that potion. So ideal for getting the hell out of a place you didn't want to be in._

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**A/N- **In case you're confused, Mel is sort of a telepath, but likes to block everyone else out. Thanks to everyone who reviewed (like light years ago). And I'm really sorry if this story is progressing really slowly. I'll try to get to the point in the next chapter.

lizardmomma- Ha. I think it's because everyone uses the book as an excuse, and the Charmed Ones are just distrusting in general.

FirePony16- Thanks. Hope you like it.

dmpanda5- thanks.


	6. The Other Side

Disclaimer: See Chapter 1

A/N- Thanks all you lovely reviewers, **i dont care what people think**, **Melinda Halliwell ()**, **FirePony16**, and **lizardmomma**. Set around 6x03. Same thing happens in 6x02. Happy 4th of July!!!! Early Happy B-Day to me.

Chapter 5- The Other Side

It's really amazing that when you've seen buildings explode, and twisted, maimed, and mutilated bodies lying by the hundreds on the streets, some things can still amaze you. But in the early twenty first century, there really wasn't much that could surprise you.

So upon opening the newspaper while she waited for the first customer of the day, Mel was slightly amused at the things that people considered "breaking news". The chair that she was sitting on was propped at an angle that made the chair seemed like it was about to tip over at any second. Her feet were propped on the coffee table in front of her, preventing the chair from falling. Next to the table was a toolbox with all sorts of equipment in it. There was even the end of a saw(not the pointy end) that stuck out of the box.

"_Why_ would you need a saw when fixing a computer?" Chris asked, his light brown hair falling over to his eyes.

Mel looked up, her eyes searching the person in front of her. A rather disgusted look crossed her face, and she said, "What did you do to your hair?"

He ran his hand through his hair, as if trying to find something wrong with it. Upon finding nothing wrong, he let the confusion cross his face as he asked, "What?"

She shook her head and corrected herself, "Okay, scratch that. What didn't you do to your hair?"

A look of comprehension lit up his features, and he said, "Oh that. You know I could vanquish three demons in the time it takes to make my hair like that."

She snorted derisively, "You know, I still can't believe that you've already onto the top 100 people to kill on sight list in the span of five weeks."

"Yeah, well," he replied testily, "I can't believe you keep track of those things, and update them every _**five days**_."

Her only reply was a glare that would have probably caused him to wilt on the spot if the door hadn't opened at that precise moment. The guy that they had hired to work the counter (A/N- so they are in the back room) came in and dropped a file and a laptop on the table before leaving. He was wearing a dark black t--shirt and a pair of ripped jeans, and hadn't said a word since day one. Mel, with her never ending sense of sarcasm, yelled after him, "Thanks for the oh so heart warming good morning!"

His retreating back didn't give her a reply. Not that she had expected one.

"You know," mused Chris, "This could be a bad idea. What if some terrorist drops his computer off, and in the original timeline, it was unfixable, and you manage to fix it, and as a result, he blows up an iconic part of America?"

"Like that would matter," she muttered under her breath, pretty much signaling the end of the conversation.

Chris was rather taken aback by her comment. Up until now, he had thought that she had come back to save Wyatt too, but her last comment made it seem like she didn't expect anything to change. Instead of asking her about her goals (because he knew she wouldn't tell him), he said, "You know, now would be a good time to tell me about the dead alive thing."

She opened her mouth to protest, but seemed to change her mind, because she said, "Not everything ends when you die, you know."

She held out her hand and said, "I can show you if you want."

He thought about it, and said, "Fine, but not now. Demon hunting and all."

She rolled her eyes and said, "Tomorrow night."

Knowing that he wasn't going to get anything better from her, he nodded, and orbed out.

Mel eyed the corner of the room, positive that the red light had just begun beeping.

----

Outside the room, the counter person smiled as he stepped away from the door. Sometimes, eavesdropping was more than invaluable. With that thought, a circle of flames surrounded him, and he was gone....

* * *

The light of a torch gently parted the dark gloomy cavern's black, evil feeling as it and its carrier entered the room. Holding the torch was a tall man with short, dark, curly hair. He wore a long, black robe and a red checkered tie. His short, black mustache and beard stood out among his pale skin. His black pupils scanned the cavern's walls. They were rather smooth for rock, and unlike most caves the inside was completely different from the feel of the outside. The man placed the torch in the holder that jutted out of the wall. The torch illuminated the room, showing how unrealistically bare the room was. There were no imperfections in the stone, or any pieces of rock sticking out of the walls or floor.

The man took out a sharp knife and carefully cut himself on the forefinger. He walked over to a corner of the room and placed his bleeding finger where the two walls and ceiling met and muttered a few words. As he let his hand drop, the floor began to rumble and the cavern sprang to life. Two feet from each wall, another wall rose from the ground, pushing the rocks aside. Vines and small green shoots sprouted from the ground and wrapped themselves around the walls that rose from the ground. The walls stopped at six feet and the markings flickered light yellow. The man smiled grimly and walked over to the slab of rock nearest to the entrance and studied it.

A fire materialized and a demon flamed in. He wore a black t-shirt and a pair of jeans, looking far more human than demon.

The man turned around and asked, "What did you find?"

The demon replied, "They have strong connections to on and another. So deep, that even I cannot fathom it. The web of connection between just the two of them is extremely large and complex. It goes from almost family, to two people with only mutual objectives. All connections have been deteriorated to things of the past, showing that they have a lapse in their meeting. But like all human beings, they are reconnecting, becoming closer by the minute. However, when they are close to one and another, they create a mental block, keep their distance from each other. There is awkwardness in their relationship that could very well turn them against each other."

"Or bring them closer together."

The demon nodded, "Potentially, but not probable."

The man nodded, and said, "You should return before they get suspicious."

Realizing that he had been dismissed, the demon flamed out, leaving no trace that he had been there at all. With impeccable timing, a short man appeared in a flurry of light blue lights. He walked up to the taller man and troubled, he asked, "Are you sure about this Gideon? Demons cannot be trusted at all."

Gideon turned toward the whitelighter and said, "Those demons know better then to double cross an Elder. And a demon that can see connections between people cannot be much harm on his own. I have already made it clear that if he were to share the information with anyone, it would certainly be the last thing he does. Besides, Sigmund, this is for the greater good. Some things need to be sacrificed for the greater good."

Sigmund looked down and sighed, clearly still ill at ease with the idea of working with his all time enemies. Nevertheless, he relinquished the information that he had been sent to retrieve. "The Seer says that she can sense little to almost none magic coming from the girl. The boy is a whitelighter, and possesses not much more than the girl. Neither should pose much of a threat."

"Good Sigmund. We should get back before anyone takes note of our absence."

Without any hesitation, they both vanished in a blur of light blue lights.

-----

The Seer watched the whitelighter deliver the information that she had fed him to the Elder before they both disappeared into twinkling blue lights. She smirked, she knew a lot more than she said, but there was no way she was going to tell that bumbling Elder. Like how the girl couldn't possibly have so little magic and the only explanation was that she controlled her magic well enough to be able to hide the aura it gave off.

Or how the whitelighter was much more that…..

* * *

A/N- okay, what did you think? We're actually going somewhere in this chapter. I liked the idea of making the person who turns Wyatt evil being someone good, so I'm sticking with Gideon. The whole thing in forget me not still happens, but both parts of this chapter should stay the same on both runs of the day. And Valhalley of the Dolls remains pretty much unchanged. If there is any change, it would be minor.

I was thinking of posting a parallel to this story about what is going on in the future after Chris leaves, but I'm not sure. So tell me what you want.


	7. The First Few Points

**Disclaimer**- See Chapters 1-6

**A/N**- I could say the words I'm really sorry five billion times, and you guys would still be mad at me right? Hopefully, this chapter'll cheer you guys up. Thanks to everyone who reviewed and favorite storied me. Special thank to **mistyfoxmaid** for motivating me in a really weird way that she doesn't even realize?

Chapter 6- Beginnings or the First Few Dots

Phoebe settled down on the couch, making herself as comfortable as possible. The days events were still rushing through her head. The exisence of Cleaners (couldn't they be more creative with the names?), here new powers screwing up her life, and living through it all twice without realizing, even if the first was forgotten. She closed her eyes, wondering, _If the Cleaners had been able to change things to avoid exposure, then where were they when Prue and Piper had accidentally exposed magic?_

It wasn't that she didn't like Paige, they had learned about her only after Prue's death. So they probably wouldn't have met her if Prue hadn't died, but all too often, Phoebe was reminded that Paige **wasn't** Prue, the older sister that she had grown so close to, one of the few good things magic had brought with it.

Even though she had long accepted Paige, grown to love her like an sister; knowing that she wasn't a replacement at all, just someone with the misfortune of seemingly to replace someone else, Phoebe still missed Prue, sometimes even comparing, something that happened though she knew wasn't fair at all.

It was the dull throb that still remained in her heart when Prue's name was brought up.

The emptiness of where her presence used to seem to fill up.

And the fact that she was no longer there.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?"

Jerked from her reverie, Phoebe looked up and saw Piper taking a seat by her on the couch. She was holding Wyatt with one arm, balancing him on her hip as well. Wyatt's arms clung around her neck, holding onto the person he trusted the most in the world. Phoebe loved the way that they seemed to fit together, like pieces in a puzzle. No words were needed for Piper to realize the answer to her question.

Worry, sorrow, regret were all things that crossed her mind, but Piper knew that Prue was in a better place (as cliché as it sounded) and she was at peace. Thinking so, Piper said to Phoebe, "I miss her too, but whats happened happened."

A small hesitant smile appeared on Phoebe's face as she said, "I wonder what she would say if she was here. I mean you have a kid. And you're a natural."

Piper closed her eyes, wondering what Prue would think about her sudden separation with Leo. If anything, Prue had admired the way that she and Leo had hung on and managed to actually get married, despite the odds.

Phoebe could feel how conflicted and hard she was feeling Leo's absence and decided not to push on the subject.

Piper, suddenly extremely tired, got up and headed towards the stairs, while yawning a "G'night" to Phoebe.

Phoebe got up and headed toward the attic, determined to check the Book once more for the Cleaners. She just needed to check once more to see that there was nothing in the Book. She couldn't help think that the Cleaners could have changed everything in the situation with Prue. If they had managed to stop the reporter from exposing magic, and Shax would never have killed Prue when Leo was in the Underworld where he couldn't hear Piper or Prue. Things could have taken a completely different turn.

Phoebe made it to the top of the stairs and was surprised to find that the light was on in the attic. Cautiously, she tip toed to the door and slipped inside. She saw Mel lying on the floor, pouring over the Book of Shadows with a laptop the side. There was a small table next to her. There was a small boiling pot, exhuming a considerable amount of scentless smoke that drifted out a slightly open window. Surrounding the pot were small vials of potions, ordered by color, and potion ingredients.

Though she seemed entirely concentrated on the Book, and Phoebe had made extra sure to be quiet, Mel somehow knew that Phoebe had entered the room, and without looking up, she asked, "What are you doing here?"

Phoebe was shocked that Mel even knew that she was there, but she hid her surprise well. "What are **you **doing here?" she retorted, putting her hands on her hips. _After all, this was **her** house…_

The tone in Phoebe's voice made Mel's head jerk up, and for a second, she saw Prue. The same attitude, exactly something she would say. Mel distantly wondered how Prue was holding up, odds were that she would end up being Resistance leader in Chris's absence. Despite what most people would think, that was a hard post. She realized Phoebe was still waiting for an answer, so she pointed at the Book and said curtly, "Work. Book duty."

Phoebe smirked, "You know, I still can't believe you guys have book duty, shop shifts, and persuade people to go demon hunting shifts."

Mel shrugged, "It gets him to sleep." She turned back to the laptop while Phoebe walked over to the table and started looking through the potions, reading the small labels.

---

A faint blue light appeared from a bedroom wall, it expanded, and burst into a portal in the shape of a triquetra. She stepped out of the portal, and it vanished behind her. She looked around, and seeing the room that she once grew up in, her sanctuary, she felt a bolt of nostalgia, but she shook it off. The younger version of herself lay in the bed, the sheets in a tangled around her body. This girl was a picture of innocence that not even the red birdlike mark on her arm could dispel. She shook her head to clear her thoughts, she was wasting time, there was work to do.

---

He walked through the booming pulse of the club. His fondness of this place was well placed, many of his happy memories were centered here. _That doesn't make my life sound very nice, does it?_ He was not very tired, but he knew that Mel would bite his head of if he didn't turn in for the day. He walked up to the door and pushed it open…

---

Mel looked up from the laptop and asked Phoebe, "Why **are** you here?"

Phoebe sighed deeply and for some strange reason, decided to open up to someone she barely even knew. She wondered at her sanity, but she explained herself anyways. Only after she had finished did she wonder at what kind of person her words had made her sound. Selfish?

Mel's eyes were anything but accusing though. Although she had already known these facts, the Charmed Ones being major history in her time, she felt the understanding pour deep into her, and she pushed the book towards Phoebe. "It probably won't tell you anything, but you can look if you want."

Phoebe was beyond surprised, but she knew better than to look at a gift horse in the mouth. So she nodded her thanks and started flipping.

---

When the door opened and closed, she made sure that he was inside the room before she stepped out from the corner of the room. He looked much more disheveled than she remembered from her memories. His haired was a mess, and there were bags under his eyes. She was not surprised at all when she saw his astonishment and confusion. There was also a different light in his eyes when he saw that it was her. She could not place it, but there was a strange familiarity in them.

"Bianca. What-" he managed to get out before she places a finger on his lips.

She knew then that he had placed all his trust in her at that moment, and there was no way that she could possibly screw up. She couldn't help but feel spiteful for someone who could put their lives into someone else in a split second? But even as she thought this, her body seemed to relax slightly, almost by instinct. She backs him into the wall, and they are so close….

---

Phoebe was beyond frustrated, she had flipped through the entire Book and the word Cleaners hadn't even appeared once. She had reached the last pages of the Book. The ones that were empty, and void of words. She expressed her annoyance by slamming the Book shut harshly. As if the book were insulted at being slammed shut, it opened again up again. The pages began to flip before settling on a page. Phoebe raised her eyebrows at the page; it was one that she knew only too well. She was about to slam the Book shut once more when words appeared on the bottom of the page. Phoebe thought that it was kind of ironic that it was Prue's.

When the Book's pages began to move of their own accord, Mel looked up. She knew that Phoebe hadn't found what she had been looking for, whatever it was. As Phoebe read the very unhelpful words on the page, she said…

---

As she leaned forward, she could feel the sweet taste of victory already washing over her. Just before their lips mad contact, she shoved her arm just slight above his abdomen. He gasped with such pain, she almost flinched, and her heart skipped a beat, but she did not back down. After all…

---

"That was then, this is now."

* * *

**A/N- **Any questions, just ask or pm me.


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